We got an early cab to the big bus station with our favorite cab driver, Lazzy. He warned us that it’s easy to get robbed at the station, especially when it’s crowded, so we had all of our valuables tucked under our clothes and were hugging our backpacks to our chests as we boarded the bus (this one was a real coach bus and not a mini blue bus, thank goodness). Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but the bus was blasting a c.d. on repeat. It was kind of African gospel meets Jamaican music meets cliché Italian restaurant music. Regardless, it was awful and Sarah finally asked the driver to turn it down. I think the entire bus was grateful.
It took 6.5 hours to get to Livingstone, but it really wasn’t that bad of a ride. When we arrived, we went straight to check in at the Jollyboy’s backpacker’s lodge. It was so cool and the decorations were awesome! There were a bunch of colorful pillows to sit on and a pretty stone pool. We could only stay for a little while before heading off to mosi-oa-tunya, the smoke that thunders!
We had to take a cab and then walk through the woods for a little while to get there. I kind of expected Victoria Falls to be more like Niagra Falls, but it really is in the middle of nowhere and there’s not that much touristy development surrounding it. We paid $20 to enter the park and another $1 to buy a full poncho set (to see the Falls, you have to cross a bridge that is constantly drenched from all the mist…it’s actually got moss growing on it). Your stuff will get ruined if you don’t pay to rent the raingear, so we decided to do it.
The Falls were incredible! They are so tall and long you can’t even see them all at once, and the mist is so thick you have to wait for the wind to clear the air before you can properly see the waterfall. You basically just cross a bridge and then walk along a stone path on a cliff edge and the mist reaches all the way across the gorge. It was really beautiful and so awe inspiring to know that something so amazing exists in the middle of nowhere.
It can be dangerous though—we heard a story about an American man who just died there recently. He was near the cliff edge and a baboon started walking towards him. He panicked and started to run, lost his footing, and fell over the side of the cliff. We were really, really careful after we heard that story.
Afterwards, we walked up the road to a really nice hotel (the lobby looked like a king’s entryway or something). We pretended we were guests and hung out there for a little while before taking the free shuttle to another hotel, the Royal Livingstone. On the way, we saw impala and zebra through the shuttle window! The hotel had them there to entertain the guests. The stripes on the zebras were so perfect and distinct. Sarah and I were bouncing around in our seats.
The Royal Livingstone is gorgeous. You can go there and get drinks and/or eat dinner even if you’re not a guest, so we went and splurged a little. First we sat on the deck overlooking the Zambezi and got fancy drinks (they were called Out of Africa). The sunset was gorgeous. We kept saying we couldn’t believe we were sitting at a five star hotel watching the sun go down over a famous African river. We felt so lucky and spoiled!
We had dinner outside on the patio after the sunset. It was so pretty and we both got nice meals. Sarah had chicken stuffed with Arabian rice and spinach and I had roasted duck. Then we shared an amazing dessert with mango sorbet and pineapple slices dressed with this fancy sauce and pink peppercorn. We didn’t know exactly what we were eating but it was delicious. Afterwards, we took a cab back to Jollyboy’s and hung out until bedtime!
http://www.backpackzambia.com/
http://www.royal-livingstone-hotel.com/
http://www.backpackzambia.com/
http://www.royal-livingstone-hotel.com/
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